The strength kindness encompasses most related terms that evoke feelings of altruism, generosity, helpfulness and a general desire to help people.. That is, a disposition for helping humanity. The following statements are from the VIA aimed at determining people's strengths in kindness: others are just as important to me, giving is more important than receiving, I care for the ungrateful as well as the grateful. Kindness, as a part of humanity, is deeply rooted in philosophical and religious traditions, each having words for the altruistic love aspect of kindness like agape in Greek, chesed in Hebrew, and the Latin word philantropia, the root of the word philanthropy.[15] Kindness is so valued as a strength beyond religious and theoretical concepts that it is advocated through school community service programs and national programs like AmeriCorps. Additionally, while gender differences in kindness are statistically significant, they are minimal, and the methods of testing used may not always have construct validity.
Kindness is most often measured on a case by case measure and not usually as a trait. The Self-Report Altruism Scale and the Altruism Facet Scale for Agreeableness Measure of the NEO-PI-R are often used to ask people how often they engage in altruistic behaviors and gauge their concern for others. The former, however, only asks about 20 specific altruistic acts, leaving out a wide range of altruistic behaviors.
There are numerous benefits from kindness and altruism on both sides of the action. For some, the motivation to be kind comes from a place of egoistic motivation, and thus the benefit to them is the positive affect state they receive from the action. Another study found that the process of being kind develops pro-social skills in children, which positively effects their attachments and relationships. Additionally, volunteerism in the elderly has shown to lead to decreased risk of early death, and mental health benefits. One thing to note is the difference between altruism as a trait and as an act.[20]
A good example of kindness is Bahadur Chand Gupta, who provides free airplane ride experience to the underprivileged and poor Indians for just 1 USD.
